


never knew we could be so strong (but now it's very clear)

by zornslemon



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:23:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7461102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zornslemon/pseuds/zornslemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the Winter's Crest Festival, Keyleth and Cassandra share a moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	never knew we could be so strong (but now it's very clear)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 2 (f/f pairing) of Critical Role rarepair week.

“Thank you for what you said earlier.”

Keyleth shudders and quickly turns around. Two weeks of calm and rebuilding have done a lot to calm her nerves, but sudden noises still make her jumpy. As her hand goes to her staff, she manages to register that the voice was Cassandra and relaxes.

“Hi, sorry, it’s been kind of a rough couple weeks,” Keyleth says. She looks at Cassandra’s face and then suddenly feels like an idiot again, because she knows that for Cassandra, it’s been a rough couple years.

“It’s okay. I think we all need this,” Cassandra says, vaguely gesturing at the Winter’s Crest festivities.

“Yeah,” Keyleth says, though her voice is a little shaky, because she’s never done well with large groups of people.

“You sound concerned,” Cassandra say.

“No, it’s fine,” Keyleth says. “It’s just that one of my best friends was controlled by a demon the whole time I knew him, and another one of my friends almost died, and I’m still sort of processing.”

“Well, we don’t need to go back to the party yet,” Cassandra says.

She motions toward a nearby log, and the two of them walk over and sit down. Keyleth can still hear the noises of the party, but it’s better than having people walking by every few seconds.

“But really, thank you for standing up for me back there when they were discussing the council,” Cassandra says. “It’s good to know someone believes in me.”

“Lots of people believe in you, Cassandra,” Keyleth says. “You pushed through a lot.”

Cassandra lets out a snort, the cynical look on her face reminding Keyleth of Percy. “I ruined an awful lot too. I’m not sure I want people to trust me.”

“Well, whether you want it or not, you have friends in Vox Machina.”

“Are you sure? Your goliath always looks like he wants to kill me.”

“No, that’s just how he is,” Keyleth says. “He looks at me like that too when I talk too much.”

Cassandra laughs again, and it sounds more genuine this time. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“And in any case, like you said, if nothing else, I believe in you.”

“Yeah,” Cassandra says. “I just wish that I could believe in myself. I think that’s going to take awhile.”

“It’s okay,” Keyleth says. “You know, I don’t really believe in myself either.”

“Really?” Cassandra says. “But you’ve done such incredible things. I know Whitestone is thankful for you.”

“I’ve done a lot of things that are kind of messed up,” Keyleth says. “All of us are cool at being the cool savior types, but we make a lot of messes we don’t clean up.”

“So how do you manage to keep doing good without dwelling on the bad?”

“Take it one day at a time,” Keyleth says. “Speak up for the right thing when you can, and sometimes it’s okay to dwell on the bad stuff.”

“You know, Percy said that you give good advice.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like him.”

“Well, when I asked about you, he said that you’d probably drive me crazy, but you make better choices than the rest of them, so it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to listen to you.”

“So was he right?”

“Well, you don’t drive me crazy.”

The two of them sit in silence for a moment, and Keyleth really looks at Cassandra. She sees worry lines on her face, lines that she’d seen on Percy’s face before, but Cassandra’s eyes are full of hope, and she’s absolutely beautiful.

And then Cassandra kisses her right on the corner of her mouth.

“Everyone seems to be kissing me these days,” Keyleth says as Cassandra pulls back.

“I didn’t know about that,” Cassandra says, a hint of worry in her voice.

“It’s okay,” Keyleth says. “I just didn’t realize this conversation was going that way.”

“I thought it was about time for me to do something I want to do for once,” Cassandra says. “If you’re taken, I can back off.”

Keyleth shakes her head. “I’m not taken. There’s Vax, but I don’t even know how I feel about that, and I don’t think things are going to work out between me and him.”

“So what about between me and you?” Cassandra says.

“Probably not,” Keyleth says. “We’re going to go back to Emon, and I think both of us have a lot to deal with on our own.”

Cassandra nods slowly. “I understand.”

“Hey, just because things won’t work out in the end, it doesn’t mean we can’t get started,” Keyleth said. “I just said we should take things one day at a time.”

A smile creeps onto Cassandra’s face. “So do you think we can…”

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

Cassandra’s smile broadens, and she takes Keyleth’s hand. And then she leans in to kiss Keyleth for real this time.


End file.
